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For the Love of Rivers: A Scientist's Journey
Rivers and streams supply our water and capture our imaginations. We seek the more pristine ones to fish or paddle, to hike along or simply sit and watch. But what is it we are seeing? What is essential about streams and rivers for us as humans?
In For the Love of Rivers, stream ecologist Kurt Fausch draws readers across the reflective surface of streams to view and ponder what is beneath, and how they work. While celebrating their beauty and mystery, he uses his many years of experience as a field biologist to explain the underlying science connecting these aquatic ecosystems to their streamside forests and the organisms found there—including humans.
For the Love of Rivers introduces readers to the life and work of Shigeru Nakano, a pioneering river ecologist who inspired other scientists around the world with his innovative research on stream-forest connections. Fausch takes readers along as he journeys to Japan, where he awakens to an unfamiliar culture, to Nakano, and his research.
Nakano’s life was abruptly ended in a tragic field accident, and his death was deeply mourned. Fausch joins Japanese and American colleagues to continue Nakano’s research legacy, learn everything they can about the effects that humans have on rivers, fish, and their intricate links with riparian zones, and share this knowledge with others.
More than a book about stream ecology, For the Love of Rivers is a celebration of the interconnectedness of life. It is an authoritative and accessible look at the science of rivers and streams, but it also ponders the larger questions of why rivers are important to humans, why it is in our nature to want to be near them, and what we can do now to ensure the future of these essential ecosystems.
In For the Love of Rivers, stream ecologist Kurt Fausch draws readers across the reflective surface of streams to view and ponder what is beneath, and how they work. While celebrating their beauty and mystery, he uses his many years of experience as a field biologist to explain the underlying science connecting these aquatic ecosystems to their streamside forests and the organisms found there—including humans.
For the Love of Rivers introduces readers to the life and work of Shigeru Nakano, a pioneering river ecologist who inspired other scientists around the world with his innovative research on stream-forest connections. Fausch takes readers along as he journeys to Japan, where he awakens to an unfamiliar culture, to Nakano, and his research.
Nakano’s life was abruptly ended in a tragic field accident, and his death was deeply mourned. Fausch joins Japanese and American colleagues to continue Nakano’s research legacy, learn everything they can about the effects that humans have on rivers, fish, and their intricate links with riparian zones, and share this knowledge with others.
More than a book about stream ecology, For the Love of Rivers is a celebration of the interconnectedness of life. It is an authoritative and accessible look at the science of rivers and streams, but it also ponders the larger questions of why rivers are important to humans, why it is in our nature to want to be near them, and what we can do now to ensure the future of these essential ecosystems.
288 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2015
21 people are currently reading
189 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 29, 2018
There is no doubting Dr. Kurt Fausch's love of rivers and all the creatures that inhabit them. Dr. Fausch combines vivid imagery with scientific knowledge to immerse the reader in a world few ever get to glimpse--beneath the flowing surface of rivers.
Hope and tragedy accompany the scientist on his journey, as it does the life of anyone who has lived long enough to lose a friend. The personal fragments of the story enhance the often ominous undertone of much of the story, but like so many scientists working in these times he provides the reader reason to hope that all is not yet lost when it comes to a fragile little blue planet.
Hope and tragedy accompany the scientist on his journey, as it does the life of anyone who has lived long enough to lose a friend. The personal fragments of the story enhance the often ominous undertone of much of the story, but like so many scientists working in these times he provides the reader reason to hope that all is not yet lost when it comes to a fragile little blue planet.
July 15, 2023
I read this for the Cape Fear River Watch book club.
This is a book by a prominent freshwater fisheries biologist. It’s a combination memoir and nature book with a large dose of advocacy. The author had a long career studying streams throughout the world, including in Japan and the western US. There is a lot of science in it, trying to untangle the ecology of streams and their place in the surrounding woods. It turns out that streams and the fish that live in them are closely connected to the forest nearby via the transport of insects across the surface and algae living on the rocks. The author’s technique of enclosing streams with nets is unusual and very involved. If you change the ability of insects to fall into a stream, or get out of a stream and fly into the forest, you will change the nature of the forest substantially.
The author spends a lot of the book talking about how different species of fish living in the same part of a stream interact. Usually it seems, one species comes to dominate over the others and drive them out, especially if the dominant species is invasive. It’s sad to see gorgeous fish such as Dolly Varden Charr or Cutthroat Trout being forced out of their native territory by invasive or hatchery-raised fish like rainbow trout. From reading this book, it does not look like there is much that humans can do to stop or reverse this process. In addition, native fish are threatened to channelization, dam building and development. The populations of these native fishes will continue to decline over the years as they get forced further and further up watersheds and become genetically isolated. The forests and streams have evolved to support and depend on the native fish. Who knows how this will all play out.
This is a book by a prominent freshwater fisheries biologist. It’s a combination memoir and nature book with a large dose of advocacy. The author had a long career studying streams throughout the world, including in Japan and the western US. There is a lot of science in it, trying to untangle the ecology of streams and their place in the surrounding woods. It turns out that streams and the fish that live in them are closely connected to the forest nearby via the transport of insects across the surface and algae living on the rocks. The author’s technique of enclosing streams with nets is unusual and very involved. If you change the ability of insects to fall into a stream, or get out of a stream and fly into the forest, you will change the nature of the forest substantially.
The author spends a lot of the book talking about how different species of fish living in the same part of a stream interact. Usually it seems, one species comes to dominate over the others and drive them out, especially if the dominant species is invasive. It’s sad to see gorgeous fish such as Dolly Varden Charr or Cutthroat Trout being forced out of their native territory by invasive or hatchery-raised fish like rainbow trout. From reading this book, it does not look like there is much that humans can do to stop or reverse this process. In addition, native fish are threatened to channelization, dam building and development. The populations of these native fishes will continue to decline over the years as they get forced further and further up watersheds and become genetically isolated. The forests and streams have evolved to support and depend on the native fish. Who knows how this will all play out.
October 7, 2022
The book was overall super enjoyable! Sometimes a section of the book could be a little too long and cumbersome. I understand how impactful Nakano and his time in Japan was for Fausch, but he talked about that time a little too much. Overall I would highly recommend the book!
August 23, 2017
A scientist 's non-scientific summary of his life's passion. Very nice.
March 10, 2015
A treatise of the ecosystems of rivers and streams, studies of fish populations, riparian diversity, and the consequences of failing to protect the integrity of water. I especially liked his chapter on the Love of Rivers and What is the future?
July 22, 2015
I enjoyed this glimpse into rivers and the research being done on them and their ecosystems. The descriptions were very vivid and I could envision some of the locations and happenings. I appreciated that this writing was technical enough but not too much that a lay person couldn't understand.
March 30, 2017
A must read for everyone who wonders why rivers or natural entities should be saved.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews